


Miscommunications

by foxholeshoyou



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Andrew is bad at communication, Andrew thought Neil cheated, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Boys In Love, Breaking Up & Making Up, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Kissing, Love Confessions, M/M, They love each other so much, They're sad, but then they're happy, they are in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-18 04:27:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29112279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxholeshoyou/pseuds/foxholeshoyou
Summary: “You can stop treating Neil like a broken victim.”“Why?” Nicky said sharply.“Because he cheated on me,” Andrew said with a cold grin, saluting the foxes with a hand as he left the dorm.
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 3
Kudos: 140





	Miscommunications

“A-Andrew?”  
“Just go Neil.”  
“I don’t understand. This is just over for good? After all this time?” Neil said, his voice breaking.  
“This was never anything. And now it’s done. Get away from me.”  
Andrew couldn’t bear to look at Neil for another second. His heart felt like it was in a vice grip and it was about to shatter into a million pieces. He’d never felt this level of pain before. And the one person he thought he could trust… No. He was done. Neil chose to cheat on him. Neil ended this. He had no right to look so heartbroken. He had no right to have tears streaming down his scarred cheeks. Andrew stormed out of the dorm before he hit Neil. Or took back every word he had just said. He couldn’t handle another second looking at those blue eyes. He couldn’t handle the way it felt like he’d lost a part of his soul.  
~  
Neil’s mind was a kaleidoscope of memories blinding him by the second. He couldn’t help but go over everything that had happened in the past month, trying to figure out where he went wrong. Trying to figure out why Andrew had shattered his heart and left him with no warning. He came up empty. They had had no fights, no arguments, nothing of consequence had occurred. He’d been blindsided. And now it felt like he was drowning and there was no way to the surface. To live without Andrew by his side. He would never see those hazel eyes sparkle again. He would never get to feel Andrew’s lips on his skin again. He would never get to have a lazy weekend with Andrew again. He couldn’t bear it, didn’t know how he would be able to survive this. Maybe it would be easier if he knew the reason, but Andrew gave no explanation. He was just done. He knew he would be haunted by this forever. Knew the loss of Andrew would be a scar that never faded. The pain was excruciating.  
And there was nothing Neil could do but try to survive without his heart, for it would always belong to Andrew.  
~  
It was a Saturday night when Andrew had felt his world shatter before his eyes. He had been going to see his stupid junkie. Because he missed him. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Of course Andrew had assumed Neil would be alone. The first sign was the thong thrown haphazardly on the floor in the living room, and then the bra following soon after. Andrew had felt nausea roil in his gut at the sight. He knew for a fact no one else was here but Neil. No one else had been staying in the dorm for the past few days, all busy with different plans. And as he had walked closer to the closed door he heard a girlish voice, followed by Neil’s carefree laugh.  
“Neil stop it,” the girl said playfully, giggling.  
“Okay, okay,” he laughed.  
“Damn Neil, you’re insanely sexy. This is perfect!” The girl exclaimed.  
Neil giggled softly and Andrew could easily imagine the blush on Neil’s cheeks at the compliment.  
“Do you have condoms?” The girl asked playfully.  
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry,” Neil said.  
That was the point of the conversation when Andrew couldn’t stand to listen anymore. The familiar feeling of betrayal ripped through him like wildfire, surprising in its intensity. Neil didn’t want him anymore. Neil had chosen someone else, someone better.  
His instinct was to go up to the roof, but he couldn’t bare it anymore. The roof was drowned in memories of Neil. He couldn’t go up there without feeling the echo of Neil’s lips on his skin.  
So he started driving. He drove until he buried the heartbreak as far down as he could. Until he felt only numbness. He wiped away the few tears that had managed to escape him. And then he came back and Neil was alone again. He couldn’t bare to ask. Couldn’t bare to hear Neil either lie or confess. He just ended it. Ripped off the bandage. And then it was gone. This light in the darkness. Andrew had been in darkness his whole life, just surviving. And then Neil had come along and it was like he could finally see again, as much as he didn’t want to. And now the light was gone. The universe had proved him right once again. There was nothing good for him here. Neil was and had always been, a pipe dream, and Andrew had finally woken up. It was more painful than he had expected it to be. The pain would linger, he knew. He would never be able to escape it. Because part of his soul was missing now, shredded apart, taken by Neil’s scarred hands and ice blue eyes and silver tongue.  
~  
It was movie night with the foxes. It had been two days since Andrew and Neil’s breakup and none of the foxes knew. Neil felt nauseous at the thought of having to tell the foxes, of having to be in the same room as Andrew again. He hadn’t seen him since that day. He didn’t want to cry again. For two days he had dreamt of Andrew. Andrew next to him, Andrew loving him, and both times he had woken up to remember the truth. It shattered him every time. He hadn’t expected to cry. But the tears flowed and overflowed and never stopped. Just the thought of Andrew made his throat tighten painfully.  
~  
Andrew knew he looked like shit. He hadn’t slept one minute the past two days. He hadn’t been able to smoke either, it reminded him too much of Neil. The nicotine withdraw mixed with his grief caused headaches, lack of appetite, nausea. He had already vomited his guts up twice today. He had told Bee what happened, but her advice had just sounded like ringing in his ears, faraway, insignificant. He was drifting off to sea and there was no one to pull him back. And now he had to see him. He had to sit in the same goddamn room as Neil for hours, pretending to care about movie night, pretending to be some form of a capable human being. It was going to be agony to be at a party when he felt like an open wound, raw and bleeding out.  
Neil wasn’t there yet when he got in. Andrew dragged his tired body to a beanbag and plopped down, not acknowledging anyone. Normally, he would have stopped to get ice cream first, but he knew he would vomit if he so much as smelled it. Normally he’d be sitting with Neil up against him, his warmth seeping into him like honey. Nothing was normal anymore.  
Neil finally appeared in the doorway and it was a slight consolation to Andrew that Neil looked like shit too. His eyes were puffy, red, and bloodshot. He had deep dark circles under his eyes. His hair looked greasy and disheveled, like he hadn’t bothered to wash or brush it in days. His eyes were lifeless, like chips of ice so cold they could burn. Neil’s eyes caught Andrew’s for a moment and his entire body froze. Andrew felt nausea roil in his gut at the feel of Neil’s eyes on him. He looked away quickly.  
“Hey… woah Neil. Are you okay? You look like shit,” Matt said.  
Neil’s eyes barely flickered in recognition of Matt’s words. He didn’t even look at Matt, his lifeless eyes were glued to the floor.  
“I’m fine,” Neil said, his voice cold, dead. Matt looked deeply concerned and he exchanged worried looks with Dan and Nicky. Neil just trudged over to his beanbag on the opposite side of the couch and plopped in it, staring at his hands like he was searching for something there.  
“Neil? Can you tell us what’s wrong?” Allison asked, leaning over Neil.  
Neil didn’t reply, just flicked his eyes to Andrew for a moment and then went back to staring at his hands.  
All the foxes looked to Andrew then.  
“Andrew?” Nicky said tentatively.  
“We broke up.”  
All the foxes froze at this. Eyes jumping between Neil and Andrew over and over, most likely cataloging how miserable they both looked.  
“W-what happened?” Nicky asked looking to Neil.  
Neil snapped his eyes to Andrew, fire flickering there once again, “He dumped me,” Neil said, his voice like steel. Andrew wanted to bury a knife in his gut in that moment. How dare Neil make him out to be the bad guy?  
Andrew snorted, muttered under his breath, “You’re pathetic.”  
Neil seemed to freeze at the words, and then deflate. He looked so broken and defeated in that moment that Andrew almost felt regret. No. Neil cheated. He deserved this.  
Allison went over and sat next to Neil, wrapped her arm around his waist.  
“Mind if I sit with you for the movie?” She asked kindly. Neil just smiled weakly and rested his head on Allison’s shoulder. Nicky gave Andrew a scathing look before flicking the lights off for the movie. By the end Andrew’s head was pounding and he felt one second away from vomiting all over the floor. Nicky, Allison, Matt, and Dan had all been fawning over Neil the entire movie. Bringing him food and drinks, hugging him, whispering words of kindness in his ears. Aaron and Kevin had been cautiously watching Andrew throughout the night but hadn’t said a word. They had looks of concern in their eyes though.  
When Nicky flipped the lights on Andrew immediately got up to leave, but he swayed on his feet. He paused, closing his eyes, trying to gain equilibrium. Neil had trudged off to the bathroom so at least Andrew could leave the dorm in peace. Andrew almost didn’t say anything, but he felt their eyes on him, angry and accusing. Because how dare Andrew hurt their perfect little Neil. Andrew paused in the doorway on his way out, turned to look back at the foxes.  
“You can stop treating Neil like a broken victim.”  
“Why?” Nicky said sharply.  
“Because he cheated on me,” Andrew said with a cold grin, saluting the foxes with a hand as he left the dorm.  
Andrew felt Aaron on his heels as he was leaving the dorm. He turned around to face him. Aaron looked confused, distraught.  
“He cheated on you?”  
“That’s what I said isn’t it?” Andrew said, raising a brow.  
“How do you know?”  
“I heard them. I saw remnants of their clothing on the floor,” Andrew said honestly.  
“Another guy?” Aaron asked, sounding afraid.  
Andrew swallowed the tightness in his throat, “A girl.”  
Anger and disgust flashed in Aaron’s eyes, “I’ll kill him. I’ll kill that bastard,” Aaron said venomously. Andrew just laughed coldly and walked away.  
“Don’t follow me.”  
~  
Aaron stormed back into the dorm, ready to rip Neil’s throat out.  
“Where’s Neil?” He demanded.  
“He just left to go on a run… why do you look like you’re about to commit homicide?” Matt asked cautiously.  
“Because that piece of shit cheated on Andrew.” Aaron said.  
“I thought Andrew was kidding,” Nicky said.  
“Holy shit… Neil actually…” Kevin muttered under his breath.  
“Wait. Wait. Are you sure?” Dan asked, looking to Aaron.  
“What? You think he’d lie about that?” Aaron asked scathingly.  
None of the foxes had a reply to that. They were all standing in shocked silence. Morning practice tomorrow was going to be rough.  
~  
Andrew squeezed his eyes shut and gripped his hand against the goal, trying to fight against his nausea. He knew he was going to vomit again. He just didn’t know when.  
Neil hadn’t shown up to practice yet. He was 30 minutes late. All the foxes had been silent throughout practice, only speaking when absolutely necessary. Wymack had asked what the hell was going on so Nicky went up and whispered something in his ear. Wymack stayed quiet after that.  
Andrew walked over to the water jug, trying to blink the stars out of his eyes. And then Neil walked onto the court. Andrew physically gagged at the sight and had to swallow back his vomit. Neil looked even worse today, if that were possible. He didn’t look at anyone as he trudged towards the team. He looked dead inside, like a ghost of himself.  
Before anyone could react Aaron had Neil slammed against the wall. Aaron punched Neil in the jaw and Neil’s head snapped to the side at the impact but his expression barely changed. He didn’t even fight back. Everyone was frozen, not knowing what to do.  
Aaron slammed him harder against the wall, “I should kill you. I should rip your throat out right here.”  
Neil just laughed, his expression dead, “I won’t stop you.”  
Aaron seemed to pause at Neil’s tone. Because Neil meant it. If Aaron had actually tried to kill him, he wouldn’t have fought back. The lack of fire, the lack of care in Neil’s eyes, it was terrifying. And even though Neil had shattered Andrew, the thought of Neil dead, the thought of Neil wanting to be dead, made Andrew sick. And finally the vomit he’d been holding back all day came out. Everyone turned to Andrew in shock. Andrew was on his hands and knees on the ground now, dry heaving, choking and spitting. He had barely eaten in days, his stomach had nothing left to reject but the feeling of his heart shattering over again.  
“Andrew,” Neil said breathlessly, breaking apart from Aaron to run to Andrew’s side. Andrew kept dry heaving, didn’t have enough energy to push Neil away when he settled next to him on the ground.  
When Andrew finally stopped dry heaving he turned a scathing look to Neil, grabbed his shirt with a fist and pulled him closer.  
“You piece of shit. You don’t get to do that. You don’t get to give up. You don’t get to want to die. Don’t you fucking dare Abram.”  
Neil’s eyes widened, he shook his head, over and over, “I can’t… I can’t do this Andrew. It hurts too much.”  
And for some reason at those words Andrew paused, realized something. Neil had never once looked guilty. He had never once looked regretful. He had only looked heartbroken and confused. Either that meant that Neil was much more heartless than Andrew had thought, or… No. There’s no way Andrew was wrong. He knows what he heard. He knows what he saw. But some instinct inside of him made him pause. He knew Neil better than he knew anyone or anything, and if Neil had really cheated on him this wouldn’t have been his reaction. Andrew went over what he had seen and heard over and over in his head, and realized… there could be another explanation. The hope that flared in his chest pissed him off so much that he shoved Neil away as hard as he could. Neil just steadied himself and blinked at Andrew. He had noticed Andrew’s thoughts changing direction.  
“Drew?”  
Andrew glared at him, “Don’t. Don’t fucking call me that right now.”  
Andrew’s thoughts were going a mile a minute, trying to discern the truth from what he had assumed. He knew he should just ask Neil, but he didn’t want an audience for that conversation. He looked in Neil’s blue eyes and only saw fear, confusion, hope, and such deep, unending sadness. No guilt. No regret. Had Andrew truly been wrong? Did he break up with Neil for a reason that didn’t exist?  
“What is it?” Neil asked.  
Andrew just shook his head and walked off the court.  
Andrew went to the roof of fox tower. Smoked a cigarette, smoked 3. He called Bee. Told her his predicament. Of course she just said he needed to have an honest conversation with Neil. Andrew rolled his eyes at the thought. It had been a while and he was sure practice was almost over by now but he was tired of waiting. Andrew drove back to the court and waited in the parking lot. When the foxes saw Andrew waiting they all paused. Andrew just looked to Neil and gestured for him to come over. The foxes stayed back, watching, but just out of earshot.  
Neil walked up to Andrew, he looked nervous.  
“When I came to the dorm Saturday night there was woman’s undergarments thrown of the floor. I heard you with someone in the bedroom. She told you you were sexy and she asked if you had condoms.” Andrew said calmly. Neil blinked. Blinked again. He dropped his bag and racquet on the ground like he was in shock.  
“You thought I cheated on you!?” Neil half-shouted.  
“Didn’t you?” Andrew asked.  
“No! Andrew I would never- I can’t believe-Oh my God.”  
Now Neil was making Andrew feel stupid for ever thinking it, and that really pissed him off.  
“Explain,” he bit out.  
Neil rubbed a hand across his face, disbelief and frustration written all over his face.  
“One of the girls in my math class. We were assigned a group project together so she came over a few times to work on it. Her clothes were on the floor because she spilled her coffee all over her on her way in. I let her borrow some of Allison’s leftover clothes while hers got washed,” Neil cringed, “While we were working on the project she said my hair looked long and I needed a haircut. I agreed and she trimmed my hair a little. She called me sexy because I guess she thought it looked good,” Neil’s cheeks flushed and he twisted his hands together, “She knew I was seeing you later that night, thats why she was talking about condoms. I’m sorry Drew.”  
Andrew stared at Neil, took all this information in, repeated it in his head. He knew Neil wasn’t lying. Neil’s words were genuine, his expression was genuine. He felt like an idiot. Of course Neil wouldn’t cheat on him. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.  
“Okay.”  
Neil took a step closer to Andrew, looked at him with those big blue eyes.  
“Does this mean we’re back together?”  
Andrew scoffed and looked away. Neil just took another step towards Andrew and lifted his hand to Andrew’s cheek. Andrew nuzzled his head against Neil’s hand and sighed, his eyes fluttering shut. Andrew’s heart felt so happy, so light. The relief of having Neil back was almost enough to bring him to his knees. His Neil. The light was back brighter than ever before.  
Neil stared and stared at Andrew. His Andrew. He understood now. He felt horrible, thinking of the way Andrew must have felt the last few days. He wish he would have known. If he had known Andrew had thought he was cheating, of all things… The thought of Neil ever cheating on Andrew was laughable. Neil would rather die than be with anyone else. All Neil wanted to do now was wrap Andrew in his arms and never let go.  
“I thought i’d lost you,” Neil said softly, still caressing Andrew’s cheek.  
“I thought you didn’t want me anymore,” Andrew whispered. The confession broke Neil’s heart.  
“Yes or no?” Neil said and right when he saw Andrew’s nod he wrapped him in his arms, holding him tightly.  
“I love you Drew. You’re all I will ever want. Every day for the rest of my life. I only want you. Always.”  
Andrew had his head buried in Neil’s neck, breathing him in, soaking up the words Neil was saying.  
“I love you too. And yes junkie we’re back together.”  
Neil laughed lightly and pulled back, “Promise me if you ever think I cheated on you again you’ll talk to me about it first before dumping me?”  
Andrew snorted but still saw the phantom pain lingering in Neil’s eyes, “I promise. But Neil? Why did you think I broke up with you?”  
Neil frowned, “I didn’t know. I thought you just got bored of me like you said you would.”  
“I never meant that. I want to be with you forever.”  
Neil sighed and his lips quirked up, “That’s good.”  
“Yes or no Neil?”  
“Yes,” Neil said breathlessly and then they were kissing, slowly, languidly. Andrew pulled Neil closed and wrapped and arm around his waist, the other going to his hair. Neil tangled his hands in Andrew’s hair as they kissed and all the pain of the last few days disappeared.  
When they broke apart Neil traced Andrew’s lips with a hand, “I love you Drew. Only you.”  
Andrew kissed Neil once on the forehead and flicked his eyes to the foxes. They all looked thoroughly confused. Probably all wondering why Andrew was taking back Neil if he cheated on him. Neil glanced back at the foxes and then looked to Andrew, frowning.  
“They all think I cheated on you don’t they?”  
“Maybe,” Andrew said, his lips tugging up at the corners.  
Neil snorted, “Well that explains why Aaron punched me.”  
Andrew’s grin faltered, he examined Neil’s jaw but only saw a small bruise there. Neil’s eyes softened.  
“I’m okay. And besides if I had cheated on you I definitely would have deserved it.”  
Andrew snorted and gestured for the foxes to come over to them. They all cautiously walked up and waited for Andrew or Neil to speak.  
“I didn’t cheat on Andrew. But I appreciate your defending him. If I had cheated on him I would have deserved much worse.”  
“Oh thank god. So you two are back together now? Because it was really horrible having you both so unhappy.” Nicky rambled.  
“Wait. Andrew you just assumed he cheated and dumped him without even asking him about it?” Kevin asked.  
Andrew just shrugged, “Oops.”  
Aaron narrowed his eyes at Neil, not fully believing him. Andrew caught his eye and nodded. Reassuring Aaron that he knew what he was doing.  
“We’re leaving now. Bye,” Andrew said, taking Neil’s hand and dragging him to the car.  
Once they were alone in the Maserati Neil smiled softly at Andrew. Andrew just stared back.  
“What is it junkie?”  
“I love you,” Neil said, grinning widely.  
Andrew rolled his eyes but couldn’t help the smile that tugged at his mouth. He leaned in and kissed Neil softly on the lips, “I love you too.”


End file.
